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Krau - the cold city. Here, the supreme leader laughs, as they make tea on the backs of their citizens.
Snowfall is deadly. Lakes are frozen solid - fish have been trapped for centuries - and it was not just the fish. There was an old network of train tunnels from the old generation - people still use them to get in and around Krau.
The tunnels connect the towers of Krau - the buildings which the citizens inhabit. The towers look like tombstones. Many of the towers had no outer windows, instead a hole running through the centre where the light circulated - feeling prison-esque. There were fifty floors above and fifty below ground.
“Are you sure we aren’t being watched?” Zeiss whispered from under his hood.
“Not cameras.. too expensive… but watchers? Definitely. They’re everywhere - even nana could be one,” Oldus said, “best not to draw atten-“
Rayon had wandered away from the pair to look at the central hole of the building. She craned her head up and saw a single bright point where the sky was. Grey…
Rayon wore heavy - pesteringly itchy - garbs and head coverings that looked like a pile of blankets. It was pertinent that she wasn’t seen. Often the hideously disfigured or burnt would wear garbs of shame. Many had been sexually abused by State guards due to their beauty, and then burned or beaten afterwards until they were grossly disfigured. Zeiss would have been opposed to this if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.
Zeiss took Rayon by the shoulder, “We mustn’t draw attention.”
Rayon nodded with hollow eyes.
Heads down. Passing people by. People here wore ragged tawny clothes - hand-me-downs from ancestors - a regular hard proletarian life.
They travelled down. Level by level. It got dark here and people used little lamps. On the underground 3rd floor, they arrived at a rusty metal door. Oldus had to push on the door with his shoulder as if someone was on the other side pushing back. Finally the door opened.
There was a musty smell of a man who lives alone - beer bottles - old tech parts - there was an old torn couch and then there was a meow.
Rayon’s eyes widened. She immediately gravitated to the couch. The cat was black and very much a smaller version of the panther they had met in the forest.
“May is good for catching roaches down here,” Oldus said.
“Small friend,” Rayon said, removing her garbs. She was relieved with the hood off as it rubbed against her painful stumps. She had to cut off her antennae because they gave her away. The cat yawned, crawled into her lap, and licked her fingers.
“Slippery,” Rayon smiled.
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Oldus and Zeiss went into another room. Oldus was a skinny but broad man with balding curly hair and a terrible patchy beard - his moustache was thin and whispered. The only redeeming thing about his appearance were his endlessly blue eyes.
“Semira,” Zeiss said, he took out the picture of her he had stolen from Deimare.
“This was likely the day she was taken,” Oldus said, “I’ve kept my tabs on her over the years, but it wasn’t safe to make contact with the orphanage. I don’t know how she is…”
Zeiss tightened his fist, “Where is she?”
“Here in Krau - North Base,” Oldus said.
There was a weight to that place. North Base. It was the place where the army headquarters were. Near impenetrable.
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Rayon sat at the small plastic dining table in the kitchen with May on her lap. Zeiss sat too and Oldus tinkered with an old gearbox on the floor.
“I need nutrients,” Rayon said.
”Why do you talk like that? Using words like nutrients,” Oldus mimicked her.
”Not correct?” She said.
”I just say it’s time for some grub,” Oldus said.
“Grub is required,” Rayon smiled.
Zeiss smiled. She was something else.
“What do you got?” Zeiss asked Oldus.
“Lucky for you I have ten pounds of salted Krau-Rat,” Oldus smiled
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Zeiss lit a flame on the old stove with a bit of kindling. There was a pipe exhaust that took the noxious fumes outside. He melted a bit of fat on the cast iron pan - it bubbled from opaque yellow to a clear liquid. Rayon was intrigued by the smell and approached the counter.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“Cooking the grub - making it tasty,” Zeiss said.
”Tasty…” Rayon said.
Oldus smiled in the corner, “He is a fuckin’ cooking god. I am not cooking while Zeiss is around.”
”Shut up…” Zeiss smiled as he placed the rat on the pan. It was pink and scraggly with the hair removed - the head was left on because nothing would go to waste - and the eyes tasted phenomenal. The pan sizzled as the rat was placed on. The smell was terrific. Rayon’s eyes widened.
“Do you want to flip it?” Zeiss asked Rayon.
Zeiss left some room for Rayon to come in - he offered her the spatula. She took it looking at the rat with greedy intent.
She grabbed the Rat with her bare hands - burning hot - and began to eat it. It was half cooked with one side crispy and the otherside raw.
“Hey hey!“ Zeiss said.
“Disgusting!” Oldus said.
Rayon was immersed in the meal. It was delicious. She got to the bone and when she could not bite through - she tried harder.
“You can’t eat the bone you weirdo!” Oldus said.
Zeiss left Rayon as she wrestled with the rat. It was no use.
“Don’t let her help with the rest - I need to eat too,” Oldus said.
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Zeiss and Oldus sat at the table eating the fried Krau-Rat straight out of the pan. The skin had become caramelised and crispy - and a little brittle. The inside was salted and slightly gamey but comforting. Krau-Rat was a treat for them back in the day.
”Remember when I beat your scrawny ass in wrestling?” Oldus laughed.
“You don’t remember that I won in the end?” Zeiss laughed.
Oldus used to be bigger and stronger than Zeiss until their mid teenage years where Zeiss became stocky and tall. Those were good times…
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15 years ago…
Zeiss caught the large worn-out tyre, and he fell back against the weight and onto the floor.
“Hey! Cut that out…” he said with a moody scowl.
“It’s a more fun way of working,” Oldus smiled.
Zeiss was skinny and small with his long hair tied into a ponytail. His skin was bare. Not a single chest hair - baby-faced like a girl. Oldus was an inch or two taller and he had a fuzzy patch on his upper lip and chin - other than that, he was just another skinny ass.
Zeiss pushed Oldus and he pushed back. Then they were rolling around on the ground, until Oldus had him pinned - with his hands on Zeiss’ wrists.
“Get off me!” Zeiss squirmed.
Oldus looked at Zeiss’ chest poking out from his singlet for a moment.
”Cut it out boys,” the stern voice of Oldus’ father, Pidus, said.
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Zeiss didn’t have any family. He lived with Oldus and his parents. They worked in the salvage trade - breaking down old technology and parts of the old generation and repurposing them.
”You are such a good boy Zeiss,” Oldus’ mother, Jetta, kissed him on the forehead, “Not like my scoundrel of a son.”
”I heard that,” Oldus said from the other room. Zeiss smiled.
Zeiss helped Jetta with the cooking because he had a certain patience that the other men in the house lacked. Good cooking required precision and patience - knowing how long before something is burnt and what flavours mix well. They were very poor but it helped that Jetta knew how to make the best out of what they had.
”You would make a good house husband if you weren’t a strong lad,” Pidus said, munching on the Krau-Rat and powdered bread.
Oldus gulped as he looked at Zeiss. His hair was down and strands mixed in between the sweat of his forehead.
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They were hauling train parts from an old network tunnel when they came across a group of labourers who were traversing the tunnels. Zeiss could pick out one person from the crowd. She had dirty cheeks and big grey eyes. They locked eyes.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Oldus said, slapping his shoulder. Zeiss had snapped out of it.
“Nothing…” Zeiss said.
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“State guards are patrolling the higher levels,” Oldus said as he got back from his morning haul.
”We can’t stay here any longer,” Zeiss said. They had been in this underground flat for nearly two weeks. Semira needed him. Rayon was alright - she was intensely preoccupied with the cat. They had become quick friends as Rayon could speak to and understand cat language.
“We can’t just storm North Base. It’s suicide,” Oldus said.
“So your plan is to do nothing?” Zeiss remarked.
“Fuck you mate… I’m going out of my way to harbour a criminal and his weird cucumber princess!” Oldus said.
Zeiss didn’t say anything. He ignored Oldus and his tantrums. He couldn’t stay here forever. He had no idea what to do with Rayon - he was more and more certain that they should part ways, but Rayon was adamant that she wanted to be by his side. Why him?
He looked over to where Rayon was on the couch. She wasn’t there. Normally there would be a meowing or cooing in the corner - but it was quiet.
“Oldus…” Zeiss said.
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Rayon left. Zeiss and Oldus rushed out of the unit to search for her. She wasn’t wearing the robes. She would be seen.
”Quick. There is something happening on the higher levels,” a woman said in the crowd.
There was a commotion on the ground floor. Rayon had followed May onto a cement spoke inside the hole in the centre of the building. Looking up there were fifty floors above her and fifty below into the darkness. A crowd formed around the circumference - gawking at the strange alien woman.
”It’s a demon!” A man shouted.
Zeiss watched from the edge - Dammit! He thought. The watchers would have seen everything by now.
“Shit!” Oldus said.
”I’ll get her - are you ready to go?” Zeiss said.
”Dammit Zeiss! Fine! Hurry up!” Oldus said nervously.
Zeiss got up onto the spoke. It was narrow at around four feet wide. He spread his arms wide and cautiously made his way to Rayon.
”Hey!” Zeiss called her.
Rayon turned and smiled, “Zeiss!”
”What are you doing?!” He said.
”May wanted to go for a walk,” she said.
May was plopped beside her - licking her paws without a care in the world.
“You can’t just leave…” He said with annoyance, “Come on… We have to go.”
There was a squeak. Bright red. May lay there bleeding out onto the concrete.
“Ack!” Zeiss said as he was shot in the shoulder. Blood spurted and his whole body froze in shock. He felt his body go limp. He turned to see the maroon of State guards lining up at the periphery. Then there was another shot that grazed his ear. He stumbled and tipped over the edge - free falling. He felt the rush of air around him. Would he die like this? Semira…
Rayon dove over the side after him - wrapping her arms around him as they plummeted fifty floors into the dark.
Together.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
